 The opera's Italian premiere took place in 1948 at the Venice Biennale as part of the Venice Festival of Contemporary Music XI.Although Britain had to wait until 1970 for a staged performance, a concert performance was presented at the Queen's Hall, London, on 18 December 1936, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Clarence Raybould, and starring Miriam Licette as Cardillac's daughter.Hindemith revised both the score and the text, for the reason that, according to Ian Kemp, the musical idiom "seemed crude and undisciplined".